Launching Art Your Food in the Big Apple

NEW YORK - On October 26, 2010 at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York City, IMAFestival (International Migration Art Festival www. imafestival.com) launched Art Your Food, the first international art contest on “Food and Migration.” The inauguration was organized in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in New York. Riccardo Vitale, Director of the Italian Culture Institute, opened the press conference thanking all the participants and stressing the relevance of Art Your Food for a city like New York. Lucia Pasqualini, Deputy Consul, conveyed the greetings of Francesco Taló, Consul General, who was in Italy and could not attend the conference, and the wishes for a successful art contest.

Introduced by Simonetta Magnani, Attaché for Cultural Affairs Art and Cinema at the Italian Institute of Culture, Rossella Canevari, René Manenti and Elena Maria Manzini, organizers of IMA Festival, explained why and how the idea of the art contest came about, along with its structure and rules. International Migration Art Festival (IMAFestival) is composed of three independent art awards held in Milan, New Y ork and Los Angeles. Art Your Food, IMAFestival first edition (2010-2011), proposes to participating artists to submit works on the combined theme of "Food and Migration." IMA Festival was founded knowing how much food represents a cultural tradi- tion capable of building bridges between sending and receiving countries.

In fact, food is a rich suitcase full of flavors, fragrances and tastes that invites nations and peoples from different places together at the same table. A fascinating performance inspired by the theme of the festival closed the contest: violist Victoria Voronyansky played music by Bach and Piazzolla, while artist Michela Martello, member of the organizing committee of IMAFestival, improvised painting on paper. The painting was sold to a private collection right after the conference.